White woman Rachel Dolezal who pretended to be black is mocked on Twitter after claiming ‘race isn’t biological’ in Newsnight interview

Dolezal - who has changed her name to Nkechi Amare Diallo - defended her actions and compared her plight to the transgender community

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By Sam Webb

27th March 2017,9:46 pm

Updated: 28th March 2017,4:13 am

A WHITE woman who pretended she was black and tonight claimed that ‘the idea of race is a lie’ has been blasted by Twitter users.

Rachel Dolezal, 39, taught courses on African-American history and became president of her local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Spokane, Washington before a media storm erupted when she was outed in June 2015.

Her parents Larry and Ruthanne revealed she was not actually black and released pictures of Dolezal – who legally changed her name to Nkechi Amare Diallo in in October 2016 – as a blonde, blue-eyed youngster.

But in an interview with the BBC’s Newsnight, Dolezal defended her actions, claiming that ethnicity is not biological, there is such a thing as being “transracial” and “the idea of race is a lie”.

Her claims drew scorn from many Twitter users. One wrote: “I may be on the wrong side of history but ‘transracial’ is not a thing.”

Another quipped: “I’m a trans-racial white woman. I love Lena Dunham and NBA players ok? You can stop following me around the store now ma’m.”

Dolezal compared herself to the transgender community, saying: “Gender is understood – we’ve progressed, we’ve evolved to understanding that gender is not binary.

I don’t care how society turns out. If my child brings home someone who identifies as “transracial", I will brick their face.